Inclement Weather Policy

The Town recognizes the weather conditions and/or other emergency-related events may necessitate the delay in opening, the closing or limited staffing of the Municipal Offices, Town Library, Recreation Department, Council on Aging, and the Clerical offices of the DPW, Fire and Police Departments. The following defines the procedures the Town and its employees will follow in the event of weather conditions or other emergency-related events occur.

These procedures do not apply to the staff of the School Department no other essential town services/public safety employees (such as the DPW, Fire and Police).

When weather conditions or other emergency-related events occur before or during the morning commuting hours and Municipal Offices remain open, the following shall apply: All employees, that this policy applies to, are expected to report to work as scheduled; however, if an employee shall be late reporting to work, he/she must notify their supervisor, prior to their scheduled start time. If an employee will be later than one (1) hour, they may elect to use available vacation, personal or compensatory time. No employee shall be able to use accrued sick time for any weather condition or other emergency-related event.

In the event an employee choose not to report for work during a weather condition or emergency-related event, he/she must notify their supervisor prior to their scheduled start time and may elect to use available vacation, personal or compensatory time. No employee shall be able to use accrued sick time for any weather condition or other emergency-related event. If an employee intends to elect this option, he/she must notify their supervisor of this decision to use vacation, personal or compensatory time.

When weather conditions or other emergency-related events cause the closing and/or delaying of the opening of the Municipal Offices PRIOR TO THE START OF THE WORK DAY, the following shall apply:

The Town Administrator will notify all employees that this policy applies to via the Blackboard Connect call system as well as provide information of the closing/delay to the local TV stations (Channel 22/WWLP; Channel 40-ABC/Channel 3-CBS-Western Mass. News).

Employees will be compensated for the period of time that the Town Office is closed during their normal work schedule, provided they were not previously scheduled to be on vacation; personal, sick or bereavement leave, or using compensatory time prior to the closing notification.

When weather conditions or other emergency-related events cause the closing of the Municipal Offices AFTER REPORTING TO WORK, the following shall apply:

The Town Administrator shall notify all Department Heads of any closing.

The Town Administrator may ask essential employees to remain in certain Municipal Offices if their services are deemed necessary.

Essential employees required to remain at work after the Municipal Offices are closed and other employees are released, will be paid for the remainder of their regular work day as well as receive compensatory time equal to one and on-half times the house actually worked. It is further understood that this compensatory time may not be taken unless the employee's shift can be left vacant or filled by a means other paid overtime. This provision will also be afford to any essential employees required to report to work when the Municipal Offices are closed.

All employees working at the time of the closure will be compensated, in full, for the time commencing when the Municipal Offices are officially closed.

If any employee who is not at work due to a prior authorized leave (vacation, personal, sick, compensatory, and/or bereavement time), he/she shall not be compensated under this policy.

Employees whose employment is regulated by individual contracts or union collective bargaining agreements are subject only to those portions of this policy that are not specifically regulated by law or by agreement.

If any provision of this policy violates any governing law or regulation, or if any law or regulation applicable to this policy becomes operative after the effective date of this policy, then this policy shall be deemed changed to be in compliance with that governing law or regulation.

The Board of Selectmen, at its discretion, may make reasonable changes to this policy based on weather or other emergency-related events or the needs of the Town.

Weather/Emergency Event Policy revised 12/2020